Punjab woke up to a shame on Thursday when a 13-year-old girl died and her mother sustained severe injuries after they jumped out of a moving bus in a bid to save themselves from a group of molesters in Moga.
In a gruesome reminder of the Delhi gangrape in a moving private bus, the incident highlighted the insensitivity of the staff of the bus who too were active accomplices in the crime. Ironically the bus belongs to Orbit Company, owned by the ruling Badal family of Punjab. The company runs a fleet of private luxury buses across the State. The bus has been impounded by the police.
Giving details after the arrest of all the four accused, Punjab DGP SS Saini said bus conductor Sukhminder Singh, cleaner Gurdip Singh, and another accused known to them, Amarjit Singh, were the actual perpetrators of the crime. Driver Ranjit Singh was arrested for being at the wheel at the time of the crime.
The incident took place on Wednesday around 4 pm when 36-year-old dalit woman Shinder Kaur, accompanied by her 13-year-old daughter Arshdeep Kaur and 14-year-old son Akshaydeep Singh, was travelling from Moga to Baghapurana in bus no. PB-10 CP 1813.
While police initially indicated towards some dispute on bus fare between the bus staff and Shinder Kaur, eyewitnesses said lewd remarks were hurled on both the mother and her daughter by two bus staffers and one of their accomplices. Kaur later gave her statement to police saying three of the arrested accused started making indecent gestures towards her daughter Arshdeep first and when she objected, they made indecent gestures towards her as well.
However, police did not confirm whether the mother-daughter jumped out of the bus to save themselves from the molesters. They said when the bus was crossing village Gill, the three persons pushed her daughter Arshdeep and her mother Shinder Kaur out of the bus. There were not many passengers in the bus at the time of the incident and no one came forward to save the brave woman and her daughter.
The incident triggered a country-wide outrage with Opposition Congress demanding either a CBI enquiry or a judicial enquiry as they feared that an impartial enquiry would not be conducted by the Punjab Police as the bus belonged to a company owned by the Badals.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said the Moga Bus incident is “deeply shocking”. “The Government means business. The guilty will be brought to book,” he said.
Inspector General of Police Gurpreet Deo and Additional DGP Iqbal Preet Sahota will supervise the investigation, DGP Saini said. Police have registered a case under section 302 (Murder), 307 (Attempt to Murder), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her), besides the SC/ST Act.